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  A Jefferson Parish judge has come out of retirement, but
not for long and not without pay. The Louisiana Supreme Court late last
month appointed former Judge Jo Ellen Grant to temporarily
replace Joan Benge, who was removed from her Division A seat on
the 24th Judicial District Court bench in Gretna. Grant’s appointment
runs from Nov. 24 to Dec. 14. A retired judge who returns to a district
court for a temporary assignment typically receives $406.77 a day, or
$8,135.34 a month, according to Valerie Willard, spokesperson
for the Louisiana Supreme Court. The high court is expected to announce
other fill-in judges until Gov. Bobby Jindal calls an election to
replace Benge. Grant retired from her Division I seat in December 2008.
Grant, who turns 57 on Christmas Eve, first won election to the court
on Dec. 8, 1990. The Supreme Court ordered Benge off the bench Nov. 6
after concluding that she improperly awarded $4,275 to a plaintiff in a
2001 personal injury case in which disgraced former Judge Ronald
Bodenheimer had privately interceded on the plaintiff’s behalf.

  Benge, 53, a former Jefferson Parish prosecutor who was
first elected to the bench in 2001, maintained her innocence, blaming
any mistakes on judicial inexperience. Benge was not charged with any
crime, but her removal was a spinoff of the FBI courthouse corruption
probe code-named “Wrinkled Robe.” — Allen Johnson
Jr.

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